Silent Protest
by Wyn G. Aarden
Summary: A fic written to spread the word about the silence blanketing the nation today...


Title: Silent Protest  
Author: Wyn G. Aarden  
Disclaimer: Yada yada blah...  
Warnings: None, except for silence and the support of homosexuality.  
Pairings: None, really.  
Note: Today is the day of silent protest for those who CAN'T come out, because they are afraid of being beaten, rediculed or otherwise. My friends and I are participating. For those who must remain silent, let us raise our voices in silence. For details, please visit: http://www.dayofsilence.org  
------------  
  
Heero walked down the stairs, stopping at the door of the kitchen. Duo was in the kitchen, cooking up a storm with the radio blaring and lip synching to the music. Nothing was DIFFERENT perse than usual... though something still felt strange.  
  
Duo normally SANG along to the radio, breaking off to say hello to whomever ventured into his sanctum. Instead, Duo smiled, turned and waved.  
  
"Something wrong, Duo?" Heero asked. Duo smiled, shaking his head. "Lost your voice?" Heero persisted. Duo shook his head again, fishing in his pocket for a piece of paper. He handed it to Heero. Heero read it, eyes widening. He nodded firmly, tucking the piece of paper into his waistband, allowing spandex space to absorb it. Heero smiled faintly at Duo, fetching himself a plate. Duo slipped a stack of pancakes onto it, and Heero sat down to eat.  
  
Quatre walked into the kitchen, yawning like a newborn kitten. He shook his head, placing the kettle on for tea. He looked curiously at Heero and Duo, then made a little 'what's going on?' gesture. Duo handed him another piece of paper. Quatre read it, then nodded.  
  
The kettle boiled and Quatre poured himself some tea, then poured out some for Wufei, who had just appeared. Wufei made vague, inaudible grumbling noises, drank the tea back and poured himself more. After three and a half more cups, he felt perhaps human.  
  
"My, aren't we quiet?" Wufei commented to the other three. They nodded in unison, Duo handing out a fourth slip of paper. Wufei read it, blinked, pulled on a pair of glasses and continued. Nodding, he secured both glasses and paper, and the silence continued.  
  
Trowa chose that time to shuffle in, looking tired and rather fuzzy. After a casual wave and acknowledging the silent whistle from Quatre, Trowa sat down, letting his head hit the table with a thump.  
  
"Some reason we aren't talking?" Trowa muttered to the room in general. A piece of paper was thrust into his nose. Trowa glared at Duo, who hid behind Heero, and read the paper. Trowa nodded, tucking it into a tight pocket.  
  
* * *  
  
The orders of the day came in text format rather than audio. A little ASCII triangle was at the bottom of the message, along with the doctors' signatures. All five pilots nodded to themselves. They were attacking an OZ base, and retrieving a certain blond from captivity.  
  
* * *  
  
Heero watched a barrage of missles hit Deathscythe and hit the radio. He couldn't type 'are you okay?' fast enough. Slowly, an answer formed across the screen.  
  
'I'm fine. I need help though' scrolled across Heero's screen. Heero brought up his Buster rifle and used the last of it's power to shoot the Leos away from it, before tossing the sparking piece of useless metal away.  
  
Strangely enough, the pilots of the Leos were not cursing them as usual, but instead remained silent. Heero thought it odd and caught himself checking several times that they were not mobile dolls.  
  
Deathscythe got hit again, and Duo flinched, hanging onto the controls tightly. He felt Deathscythe falling and bit back a yell when it impacted the ground.  
  
'Duo? You okay?' Heero typed. Duo saw it, but couldn't reach the keypad. The message repeated itself half a dozen times before Heero got fed up.  
  
"Damnit Duo, break the silence. Are you okay?" Heero demanded.  
  
"Yeah," Duo replied. Heero breathed.  
  
'We have extracted her. Get going,' scrolled rapidly across the screen. Heero took out the last Leos and transformed his Gundam to bird mode, taking Deathscythe and Duo along for the ride.  
  
* * *  
  
Duo didn't make a sound when Heero was patching him up. Heero, of course, was as careful as possible. The only time he flinched was when he heard Relena's voice.  
  
"Heero! Thank you for saving- Duo?" she broke off to look at Duo, who normally said something, anything to her at this point. Duo merely presented her with a paper. Her eyebrows raised and nodded. Dorothy looked over her shoulder, reading as well. She nodded in understanding.  
  
* * *  
  
In every OZ base, on the colonies, in every country, identical slips of paper were being passed around, all bearing the same message:  
  
"Please understand my reasons for not speaking today. I am participating in the Day of Silence, a national youth movement protesting the silence faced by lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their allies. My deliberate silence echoes that silence, which is caused by harassment, prejudice, and discrimination. I believe that ending the silence is the first step toward fighting these injustices. Think about the voices you are not hearing today. What are you going to do to end the silence?"  
  
End  
  
Wyn G. Aarden, April 10th, 2002 


End file.
